Hulbert's parents were loving but hard working and God-fearing, their main concern the raising
healthy and happy children, and of course keeping a roof over their heads. Sam's earliest
memories were of rising early to milk the cows, feed the pigs and chickens, chop wood, and
deliver eggs. Every spring in those early days, the family tapped maple trees and boiled the sap
to make syrup, which they sold. And after moving to town, he worked with his father each
morning, delivering milk in the family pick-up truck, the quart bottles in their wire crates covered
with ice--something that took four or five hours every day of the week except Sunday. [worked
five, I, pp. 1-2] The schedule was unrelenting and, in such a small community, provided a regular
but only modest income.

Sam recalled that their house was nice enough but that they did not
own a car like the families of most of his friends. When they went someplace the family had to
cram into the pick-up truck. He also recalled delivering the milk at a run, to shorten the time. Of
course, without realizing it, he also built stamina. [milk del., II, p. 5] What he learned in the
process of this activity, was that people must earn a living, something that involved hard work,
but when done properly, also was a source of satisfaction. "With hard work," he recalled his
mother saying, "you can do anything." [hard work, I, p. 7]